Brassicas: pre-adaptation of seedlings for increased resistance to pest and pathogen attack

The aim of this project is to explore the potential of using a controlled short duration salt-stress during production of Brassica plug plants for increasing natural host resistance to early attack by downy mildew and cabbage root fly.  This approach will be tested across a single growing season in two ways: i) salt stress will be applied as a pre-adaptive treatment in the week prior to dispatch, the timescales of which will concur with commercial practice; the treated plants will be challenged with pests post treatment while still under glass, and ii) batches of module raised plants under glass will be pre-adapted with salinity stress and the performance and resistance to pest attack will be assessed from the point of transplant at two diverse field sites to monitor the effectiveness of the treatments through to crop maturity.